I understood that the most terrible thing in life is complete hopelessness… To cross out all the ‘maybes’ and give up the fight when you still have strength for it is the most terrible form...

Sveta had much less to say, but she sat with Lev and held his hand, and when I asked her what had made her fall in love with him, she replied, ‘I knew he was...

Their notion of training was to march the men up and down in parades and reviews: these were nice to look at and gave them the impression of military discipline and precision, but as a...